A New Book
by spritesinger
Summary: After talking to Harry, Luna has to complete a few jobs before the end of the summer term.


Luna wandered away from where she and Harry had been talking, the last of her lists and a heavy bag banging against her side. Reaching the end of the corridor she turned down another one which was lined on one side by several large arched windows, through which the late evening sun was pouring. Spotting a rusting suit of armour she stopped, dumped her bag on the ground next to her feet (narrowly missing Mrs Norris who had appeared from nowhere) and stuck the last list up. The suit of armour groaned creakily in protest so she took it down, stuck it on the wall next to it (Mrs Norris had by this time disappeared) and picked up her bag. A loud ripping sound made her draw her wand, saying as she pointed it at the bursting bag, "repairo". Really, she thought as she stuck her wand behind her left ear for safekeeping, she shouldn't let the amount of borrowed library books build up. It only made the bag heavier when they had to be brought back.

Arriving at the library she pushed the door open slightly and slipped inside, her bag catching between the door and doorframe as she did so. Several loud thumps on the other side of the door told Luna that her bag had burst completely but she simply opened the door and picked up all of the spilt books then carried on up to the desk where Madame Pince sat, marking off all the books that had been returned that day.

Luna put the large stack down on the desk, arranging them neatly so that a year's worth of borrowed books was soon stacked high in front of the scowling librarian who immediately started marking them off her list. Salamanders Of The North And South, Myths And Fables Concerning The Horned Snorkack, What You Should Feed Your Freshwater Plimpy, and How To Care For Your Gurdyroot Plant were all ticked off as were several others. After several minutes Madame Pince put the last book on the top of a teetering stack with a quiet sniff and Luna picked them up and wandered over to the Magical Creatures Section, depositing How To Care For Your Gurdyroot Plant in the Herbology section as she passed and started putting the books back on their correct shelves.

When she'd finished Luna started to wander back to the library door but saw a small book lying on a low table so picked it up. A golden title said Unusual Creatures And Their Habitats and a name on the front showed that it was written by Lynold Scamander, brother of Newt Scamander, who was a naturalist much admired by her father and had, in fact, written several articles for the Quibbler. Flicking it open to the contents page she saw it covered:

page 1 Erumpents

page 13 Flutterby Fairies

page 26 Freshwater and Saltwater Plimpies

page 31 Horned Snorkacks

Page 40 Potential New Discoveries

Opening the book to page 26 Luna started to read.

Later and later she read and would have lost all track of time if not for Madame Pince's sniffs every half hour on the dot and ever increasing in number: two at eight o'clock, three at half past, _four_ at nine o'clock. Eventually she stopped reading at half past nine just as Madame Pince gave five sniffs when a voice said behind her:

"You can borrow that if you like." Turning around she saw a sixth year Ravenclaw that she knew by sight only. "It's not the libraries," he clarified,whem she only looked at him dreamily, "it's mine. But you can borrow it over the summer if you like. Here." He tapped the book with his wand. "When you've finished you can owl it to me." He turned and left, picking up a heavy bag on the ground that Luna hadn't noticed before disappearing behind a large book shelf. Looking inside the front cover of the book Luna saw that neat writing had appeared on it in green ink. Lorcan Scamander, it said, Salam Street, York.

Leaving the library half an hour later Luna drifted back to the Ravenclaw Common Room clutching the book. So engrossed was she in the book and what it said about the potential existence of the Crumple Horned Snorkack that when she finally got back to the dormitory she didn't even notice that there was a large pile of shoes, books and a telescope sitting at the foot of the bed.


End file.
